It's fun being home and getting back to normal.

On Wednesday Mark had his early dentist appointment to have the temporary crown replaced with a permanent one.  That went pretty well in about an hour's time.  Then we went to get his comic books at the usual location only to find out they had moved to their new location while we were on vacation.  I went in the new store with him just to see how much bigger and more beautiful it is.  Then we went home and watched the Disney movie The Black Hole from 1979.  I remember it, and I remember having a little pop-up type book of the story for Lowell as well as some toys.  It was NOT a good movie and did not make money for Disney.  This many years later, it is still not good.  LOL

Yesterday I never left the house.  I hosted 7 ladies for Mah Jong while Mark went out for shopping and exercise.  I even won two games and met two new ladies.  Lots of fun.  They left around noon.  The rest of the day I watched TV and read my book.  I took a nap in the afternoon and then read some more and watched more TV.  Not a bad day at all.  In the evening we had a great big storm, and it's fun to sit in the house all safe and sound listening to the rain hit the roof.  We are making our way through all the TV Mark put on the DVR while we were on vacation. 

This morning my weight was 274, down to almost where I was when we left on the trip.  I actually was lower yesterday morning, below where I was on August 2 when we left, but I did not do well yesterday.  Two of the ladies brought baked goods.  Susie brought me an Entenman's loaf cake for my birthday and another lady brought some mini-muffins.  I cut the cake up into 8 slices, but only Susie and I ate one.  So later, while I was watching the TV at lunch, I ate the remaining six slices of the cake plus four of the muffins.  Ridiculous.  I'm pretty sure all those carbs are what sent me into a sugar-inspired afternoon nap!  So even though I'm up from 273 to 274 this morning, I know exactly WHY.

Yesterday Mark made a Hungry Girl dessert of mini chocolate Pecan pies.  Apparently, it was National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day.  Who knew?  They were amazing.  A serving was three little one-bite pies.  That would have been a perfect dessert last night for me if I hadn't already eaten an entire Entenman's loaf cake earlier in the day.  Sigh....

Also yesterday was the English date for when my Dad, the Reverend Doctor Billie Getson Meese, passed away in 1988.  What a brilliant man he was, skilled in many areas: high school science teacher, handyman, Federal agency administrator,  PhD in Human Development and Learning, college professor, farmer, Methodist minister, sailor, bowler, Army veteran of WW II, loving father and grandfather.  Tonight is the 7th of Elul, the Hebrew date of his death, so I will light a yahrzeit memorial light in his honor before we leave for shul tonight and say Mourner's Kaddish during the service.  I think of him every day. 

Today we will head over to the Cove around 10 for some water exercise and then work in the library in the afternoon.  Tonight we are heading to the synagogue for their annual Blue and White Dinner and then the evening service.  It's always a nice dinner and service.  Even though I'll be eating dinner out, it's never too bad a dinner or too large a portion.  It's a buffet, but they serve it to you at each station, so the portions are smaller than I would give myself.  It's the opposite for Mark.  He always complains the portions are bigger than he would give himself.  LOL

Tomorrow will be all to ourselves to decide.  If we go to shul tonight, we won't go tomorrow.  That gives us the whole day to relax, go to the pool, watch more TV, and read.  Then Sunday it is up and out early to the Frozen Summer Fun at Disney's Hollywood Studios.  We made three Fastpasses, including the Frozen sing-a-long show.  I will be wearing my new Run Disney New Balance sneakers that I bought at the D23 Expo. I wore them the rest of the day at the Expo once I bought them, but that wasn't too much walking.  I also wore them on Wednesday to the dentist, but that was mostly driving and sitting.  Sunday will be the first day I walk all day around a big park.  I hope they do well and don't rub blisters.  I got a half size smaller but a wider shoe than before.  The 8.5D felt perfect on my left foot, but a bit short on the right.  I had been wearing a 9B before, but this shoe felt too long and loose around the heel, so I went with the shorter one.  They were very expensive because they say Disney and have a Minnie Mouse on the back.  I hope I didn't make a mistake.

So Tuesday I finished the Aulani pictures.  Today I will put up some Disneyland pictures from Monday, August 10.

It's the Diamond Celebration for Disneyland 1955-2015.

Haunted Mansion here looks nothing like the one in WDW.

New Orleans square is one of our favorite spots in Disneyland.

Magnificent night time parade.

Amazing fireworks presentation with all the buildings on Main Street having projections on them as well as on the castle.

Home with Jet Lag

I did not think I would have jet lag despite how we both said that it always feels worse going west to east.  Still, we got up at 3:30 a.m. in Anaheim and were on the shuttle at 4:50 a.m.  We landed around 4:40 Orlando time and stayed up until 11:30.  We thought that would totally put us back on east coast time.  Still, we could BARELY get out of bed at 7:50 a.m., and I'm sitting at the computer less than an hour later feeling like my head is full of cotton.  Gonna be a sluggish day!

Mark has his first appointment with the new endocrinologist this afternoon at 2 p.m.  We also need to do some grocery shopping since there is nothing here to eat.  We will be going to Lakeside for breakfast in a few minutes and probably eat lunch at Cheeks before heading to the doctor in Celebration.  Mark also wants to stop and get his comic books.  By the time we get home, 15 days of mail will be waiting for me to go through.  Well, back to the real world.

The best news of all is that in the 15 days, I only gained 1.6 pounds!  I left on August 2 at 273.8 and weighed in this morning at 275.4.  I was pretty pleased.  Before bed I ate a third of a big bag of very salty macadamia nuts that we brought back from Hawaii.  I bet if I hadn't done that, I might have showed no gain.  Amazing.  I think that since two meals will be eaten out today, there's not much chance of dropping any weight today, but I do plan to get back to more normal eating by dinner tonight.  Still, all that swimming and walking paid off because we did NOT hold back in the eating and drinking departments at Aulani!  LOL!

Here are pictures from the last two full days at Aulani.  Hopefully I can start with some Disneyland pictures tomorrow.

Emily and Lowell just did the water slide and are ready to go around the lazy river again.

Evey and Mark

Playing the Menehune game

Enjoying the pools and the afternoon Shake-a-Shaka pool party

Afternoon delights

Orioles v. Yankees!

We ordered 9 gigantic appetizers for six people and then called it dinner, at the Olelo room

Spending the evening in the Infinity pool

Saturday we had the cabana that I cancelled from my Thursday birthday because I thought the tropical storm would make it rain all day.  It didn't, but any day with a cabana is a good day.

All the cold water in the fridge that we wanted plus a fruit tray and later a dessert tray.

Nap time

Dessert platter

Dressed for the luau

Paradise Cove Luau is considered the best on Oahu, and it was just a short walk from Aulani.  What a great way to end our Hawaiian vacation.

Falling behind and trying to catch up.

It's hard to catch up on what we are doing when I'm still posting pictures from Aulani.  I haven't even uploaded most of the Disneyland and California Adventure pictures.  I'm sure that I'll get it all together sooner or later.

The convention was another day of sitting in two or three hour lines to get into sessions.  We made it into three sessions, all great.  Sooner or later there will be pictures of some of those.

Meanwhile, we have one more day of the convention and then we fly home on Monday.  Wow.

Pictures of my birthday in Aulani.

The bar staff gave me a cookie because it was my birthday.  Also probably because we were ordering LOTS of drinks!

Dressed up for dinner

Ready to go to the Ama Ama restaurant at the resort for my birthday dinner.

Emily and Lowell at Ama Ama

Eric and Evey at Ama Ama.  The kids paid for dinner tonight, which was a fabulously expensive present!

Ohana means family.

The restaurant brought us a cake.

Beautiful sunset for my birthday.

The kids

Evey made me a BEAUTIFUL and delicious cake.

Duffy's girlfriend Shellie May and two new Aulani outfits for Duffy were some of my presents.  The kids all got me a fabulous new camera!

Cards and gifts on my 65th.  What a magnificent birthday party!